


Everything’s Easier When You’re Not Alone

by kitk8



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Humor, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Endgame, Slow Burn, Strong Female Characters, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-12 00:12:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19217671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitk8/pseuds/kitk8
Summary: When Thor and the Revengers escaped Sakaar, they also saved the Grandmaster’s Asgardian slave Celeste and took her with them. She became good friends with Thor, helped in the wars against Thanos, and found a home in New Asgard during the five years before the Avengers turned back time.Once Thanos is finally defeated, Thor wishes to go with the Guardians to space and he invites Celeste to join them. Will she go with them and start her life over once again?





	1. Do You Want to Go?

There was a loud knock at her door and a familiar, deep voice called out, “Cel? Are you home?”

She opened the door with a smile on her lips. “Hello, Thor,” she said.

“Good morning, I hope I am not disturbing you?” Thor said and returned the smile. He was always so polite and sweet to her which she greatly appreciated. One had to take all the kindness one could get in a world like this after all.

“Of course not. Do you want to come in?” Celeste asked and opened the door further and took a step back, knowing what his answer would be.

“Sure, thank you,” he said and stepped into her house. They were both used to being in each other’s homes as they had spent a lot of time visiting each other in New Asgard over the years. However, even though this was a habit of both of them, Celeste felt like something was off with Thor today. She didn’t blame him though, that man had gone through more than most people, but she was concerned nevertheless.

“Want anything to drink or eat? I was just about to make breakfast,” she offered.

“Well, I cannot decline such an offer. If you are having some, then count me in,” Thor said and grinned.

Celeste chuckled and walked into her kitchen with Thor following close behind. They both started making breakfast and chatted as they did so.

“So, what’s on your mind? I can tell that something’s bothering you,” Celeste said and looked at Thor with concern in her green eyes.

Thor scratched the back of his head and sipped on a cup of coffee before he responded. “You know me too well… I have barely slept for a few nights now because the past days’ events have been keeping me awake,” Thor confessed and looked down.

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Celeste said and pressed her lips together as she put an affectionate hand on his arm. “The battle was tough for everyone and I can’t even begin to imagine how you’re feeling, dealing with so much loss. But we made it out alive and we’re still here, together.”

Thor’s eyes became glossy and it looked like he tried very hard to keep from crying. Celeste had seen him in tears several times, as had he seen her, but she understood that he perhaps didn’t want to start the day crying. Nevertheless, she was prepared to comfort him if he would feel like spilling some tears.

It hurt him to be reminded of all the dear ones that he had lost over the years. His mother, his father, his brother, Heimdall, the Warriors Three, Natasha, Tony, and countless Asgardians. Yet Celeste knew that he was grateful for that he still had loved ones left. In fact, that was perhaps the only thing keeping him afloat.

He took a deep breath and blinked the tears away. “Thank you, Cel. I am truly glad that I still have you after all of this chaos.”

She smiled at him and then hugged him tightly, which he returned. They stood like that for a while before Celeste said, “Let’s eat something. Food always makes everything better.”

Thor chuckled and responded, “It sure does.”

They sat down and enjoyed some toast and cereal in silence. After Thor had eaten about seven pieces of bread, Celeste asked, “Better?”

Thor grinned and said, “Much better.”

“Good.” She smiled at him and took a drink of her orange juice. “What do you feel like doing today?

“Well, about that. It is actually sort of why I came to you…” He started to explain.

Celeste raised her brows slightly and said, “Oh?”

“I talked to Rocket yesterday, you know, the space rabbit,” he said, making Celeste smile. “And he and his crew are planning on going back to space today. He asked me if I want to join them.”

Celeste hadn’t exactly expected him to say that, so it took her a little while to gather her thoughts and come up with a fitting response. “Do you want to go?” She eventually asked.

“I thought about it all night since I couldn’t sleep,” he said and scratched his beard. “And I think that yes, I do.” He paused. “I do not feel like I know my purpose anymore, which is a first in over a thousand years. The war is over and now Brunnhilde rules New Asgard, which is wonderful, but it also means that I am not needed here.”

Celeste nodded slowly and wasn’t quite able to process what he was telling her. All she knew was that she didn’t want him to leave her. But she felt as if she had no right to tell him this and she couldn’t either stop him from going. If this what he wanted, he should absolutely do it. Even though there were many emotions and thoughts inside of her at that very moment, all that came out of her mouth was, “Right. Makes sense.”

Thor looked at her, trying to identify how she was feeling about what he had just told her. She appeared to be deep in thought and a little confused. He reached out for her hand across the table, which she let him take, and he soothingly stroked his thumb over the back of her hand.

“I do not want to leave you,” he gently said and looked into her eyes. “So would you possibly consider coming with?”

Celeste was once again taken by surprise and this time she let it show more evidently. The first thought that came to her mind once Thor had asked her was that _Yes, of course I want to._ And that was true. She had nothing on Earth holding her there. She wasn’t from this planet and although she had made some friends in New Asgard, they were nothing compared to her friendship with Thor. She had been separated from her family a long time ago when she was taken to Sakaar, way before Thanos, and she supposed that they were all dead. Although she didn’t remember much of her past before Sakaar, she knew that she was from Asgard and that she had been kidnapped from her home at a fairly young age to then be one of the Grandmaster’s many slaves.

Celeste interrupted her own horrible trip down memory lane and smiled as she said, “I’d love to join you.”

Thor’s entire face lit up and he squeezed her hand. “That makes me really happy.”

She nodded and then asked, “And you’re sure it’s alright with the others? I wouldn’t want to impose and be an unwanted guest.”

Thor chuckled and said, “No, no, you will be no such thing. They are happy to have you and Rocket said something about that it will be good to have another woman aboard.”

Celeste laughed a little, but also felt a little sad because she knew that Rocket and the others had lost one of their friends, Gamora. It made her feel uneasy and even though Thor had just reassured her of that they’d welcome her there, she wasn’t entirely sure that it was that simple.

“Well, then I guess I better start packing,” she said and decided to not share her concerns right now. She smiled and instead asked, “When do we leave?”


	2. Let Us Not Start Off Like This

It turned out that the departure was far sooner than she had expected, so once Thor informed her of that it was in a couple of hours, Celeste shooed him out of her house and then frantically started packing while cursing the blonde oaf for not telling her this sooner.

She decided to not bring that much with her and most of her packing was clothing. She didn’t bother with decorations or furniture because she supposed that it’d be strange to bring that to a spaceship. And besides, perhaps she’d come back to Earth and New Asgard one day and if so, it would be nice to know that a fully furnished house was waiting for her; that she still had a home.

Celeste also made sure that she said goodbye to everybody who meant something to her before she left, and she handed out the food that she had in her home to them as well. One couple offered to take care of her house to make sure that it wouldn’t crumble apart while she was gone, and Celeste gratefully accepted. She gave them her extra set of keys and that was that.

She went back home once she had spoken to everybody and checked that she had everything that she wanted to bring. She also just spent some time walking around the house, thinking of all the memories she had made there. Celeste felt ready to leave, but at the same time not really. She didn’t quite understand that she was leaving this comfort and even though she knew that she wanted to, it didn’t fully click with her. So she convinced herself of that it wasn’t exactly a goodbye and more of a see you later type of situation. At one point she even promised the house this out loud.

After some time, Thor knocked on her door for the second time that day and asked, “Cel? Ready to go?”

She tried to memorise a few of her favourite paintings that hung on her walls before she walked over to the door, opened it, and said, “Ready as I ever will be.”

Thor smiled brightly at her and the two of them left New Asgard together with their packing. The spaceship was too big to land in the small dock, so they had to walk some distance away to a large empty field where it stood. Several Asgardians, including Brunnhilde, followed them there to wave them off and hug them one last time before they departed.

“Take care of him,” Brunnhilde told Celeste as they embraced each other.

“I will,” she replied and met the Valkyrie’s brown eyes.

Brunnhilde nodded at her and that was that. As she continued to hug her other friends, an impatient voice called out from the ship behind her, “Come on now, wrap it up. We got places to be!”

Celeste turned around and saw the raccoon, Rocket, standing near the entrance to the ship with his arms crossed. _What a warm welcome,_ she thought to herself. Nevertheless, she rushed through the last few goodbyes with an apologetic smile on her face and then headed for the ship with Thor right beside her.

“Geez, finally,” Rocket said as they entered the ship. “You’re just going away to space. It’s not like you’re dying or anything.”

“Goodbyes are important,” Thor replied and Celeste nodded in agreement to his words.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rocket said and waved his paw in dismissal.

“Welcome aboard!” A booming voice announced from behind Rocket. It belonged to Drax, who walked up to them and hugged Thor in a seemingly brutal way. He slapped the god’s back a few times and then moved on to Celeste. However, as they had never really met, they settled for a handshake. Drax had such a firm grip that Celeste feared she might’ve broken something when he let go.

Groot and Mantis were the next ones to come up and say hello. The former of course only said, “I am Groot,” and as Celeste had no idea of what it meant, she replied with “Hi,” and hoped that it was appropriate.

Mantis seemed excited to have new additions to the team, but she was a bit shy and awkward when she introduced herself.

“Where’s Quill?” Thor asked once all the introductions were done.

Rocket sighed. “All he does is either drink, sleep or cry. So I’m guessing he’s in his bed, feeling sorry for himself.”

Thor hummed and Celeste pressed her lips together, feeling empathetic for the man already. “I am certain that seeing me will brighten him up,” Thor said and smiled.

Rocket snorted and grinned as he said, “Oh, I’m sure it will.”

Celeste didn’t know the history between Thor and Peter that well, but she knew that they had some kind of macho rivalry going on. However, she wasn’t sure whether that was still ongoing considering everything that had happened.

She and Thor followed Rocket to an area of the ship where there were a few beds. Just like Rocket had predicted, Peter sat on one of them looking pretty down with a bottle in one hand. He was also wearing headphones and listening to music.

They all stopped in front of the bunk he was sitting on, catching his attention. He slowly removed the headphones and lowered the bottle from his lips.

“What are you doing here?” He asked and frowned.

“It is good to see you,” Thor replied and smiled a little, completely ignoring the question.

Peter didn’t look amused and instead squinted at Celeste. “And who is she?”

“Her name’s Celeste,” Rocket said before she had a chance to open her mouth. “It’s Thor’s girlfriend or something.”

Celeste looked surprised at the statement and fumbled with her words as she tried to explain that that was not the case. “Uhm, we’re not a couple,” she eventually stated and smiled awkwardly.

Peter huffed and took another drink from the bottle. “You can’t just invite people aboard as you please,” he told Rocket, sounding very annoyed.

Celeste wondered if Peter had always been this rude and obnoxious or if losing Gamora had truly messed him up. It wasn’t that unlikely, after all, Thor was a good example of how loss and grief could turn a person upside down. So Celeste decided that she wouldn’t judge Peter too harshly right now.

“Oh yeah?” Rocket retorted. “Why do you care anyway? It’s not like you’re doing anything productive and they’re disturbing you.”

This made Peter be quiet and he instead shrugged and took another swing from the bottle. Celeste was starting to grow concerned about how much he had had to drink. She had handled Thor at his worst a few times, and that wasn’t a pretty sight.

“We have come to help bring your love Gamora back,” Thor said, making Peter flinch at the mention of her name. Celeste thought that it would probably be best to just leave Peter alone right now, but Thor seemed to have different ideas of what was best for him.

“Don’t you dare say her name again,” he growled and stared at Thor.

“Easy now, we are only trying to help you,” Thor tried to reassure him.

It was as if something snapped within Peter, because he suddenly stood up and walked up to Thor, stopping very close to him. Then he gave the god a shove and said, “Stop pretending you know what’s best for me.”

Celeste felt like this was going south very fast, and was ready to interrupt the whole thing before it escalated even further. However, as she took a step forward, Rocket pulled her pant leg and said, “Don’t. Let’s see what happens.” He had a big grin plastered on his face.

She frowned at him and totally disapproved of his suggestion.

“Brother, let us not start off like this,” Thor reasoned.

“No? Too scared?” Peter taunted and shoved him again.

But the silly provocations didn’t work at all and Thor was as calm as ever. Celeste wasn’t even sure if it was possible to anger him anymore, not after everything that he had been through.

“You should get some rest,” Thor merely told him and then left the area.

“Fuck that guy,” Peter said and sat back down on the bed. “Coming into my ship thinking he’s so much better than me.”

“He totally is and you know it,” Rocket teased.

“Screw you too,” Peter replied and drank from his bottle yet again.

Rocket laughed and then left Peter as well, leaving only Celeste there. She felt awkward about remaining, but didn’t just want Peter to be all alone. She knew how it felt to be left completely alone when feeling like absolute shit, and it was nothing she wished on anyone.

“Can I get you something?” She asked. “Water?”

“Do I look like I need water right now?” He snapped. “Why are you even still here?”

Even though Celeste was a patient and calm person, Peter was sure wearing her patience out. Perhaps it would be best to just leave him alone after all. But she didn’t like the prospect of him drinking more. If she could only get him to give her the bottle…

“Mind if I take a drink?” She asked.

He looked at her, seemingly very irritated. “Yeah, I mind. Then there would be less left for me.”

Celeste concluded that this was a lost cause and figured that she was perhaps the worst person aboard this ship to reason with him. Her words meant nothing to him and seemed to have no effect whatsoever. So even though it saddened her, she decided to simply leave him be and let him drink his sorrow away.

She nodded once and said, “Okay, then,” before she left the area as well.

As she walked away, she tried to think optimistically. _At least it can’t get much worse now,_  she reasoned. However, she was already starting to doubt this whole trip and she had barely been aboard the ship for more than five minutes. But they were currently taking off and leaving Earth, so she supposed that it was a little too late to back out now.


End file.
